Letters to the editor, 9/4

Finally, the last paragraph of Mr. Nagel's latest virulently anti-Israel letter states the key to his oft-repeated fabrications that Israel kills and subjugates Palestinians ("We pay a steep price for Israel's grip on D.C." Aug. 23). In it, Nagel states that Israel has "complete control of Congress," which is a well known anti-Semitic canard. That Israel, in fact, seeks peace with the Palestinians is demonstrated by its own 20 percent Palestinian population which has full rights of citizenship, and are the only Arabs in the Middle East to benefit from living in a democracy.

With four nephews who have served in elite fighting units and special forces in the Israel Defense Forces, I can speak with personal knowledge that Israel adheres to the highest ethical standards in defending itself from Hamas' war crimes of launching rockets and missiles at Israeli population centers. No other country in the world warns enemy civilians of incoming munitions through telephone calls, texting and leaflets, as Israel is doing in Gaza. Hamas, on the other hand, refuses to stop its relentless and blatant campaign to mass murder Israeli civilians, which is the essence of terrorism. Mr. Nagel, as usual, has it backwards.

Marcy K. Schwartz

Poughkeepsie

Nobody complains about U.S. aid to other nations

Now that your reliable contingent of anti-Israel letter writers is back to full strength (two), let's examine a few of their recent, but hardly fresh, themes.

The United States routinely provides assistance to countries throughout the world. Whether this is good, bad or indifferent is a topic in itself. I would be happy to see nearly all aid, including military aid, taken off the table. We fund troops in the Pacific, 69 years after the conclusion of the World War II. Bring them home. We provide military assistance to countries in Central and South America to combat drug cartels, even as Americans continue to buy the products. Bring the money home.

But strangely, we do not see letters claiming that we are captives of "the Japanese lobby," or brainwashed by cunning Colombians. It is crucial that we identify the twisted sentiments which underlie these all-encompassing condemnations of Israel. When a writer lumps together big banks, foreign aid, crooked politicians and on and on, we can be sure he has already chosen his suspect — his one suspect — responsible for all the ills of the world. But the reality remains: Nobody "occupies" Gaza; nobody wants Gaza.

Steve McKenna

LaGrangeville

Cell towers aren't what's ruining the environment

It always gets me wondering when protest groups rise up to rail against additional power lines or cellphone towers. Especially at this late stage of mankind's progress in transforming this natural planet Earth into what is now no longer recognizable as such (compare the New York megalopolis area with Yosemite National Park).

I've never heard anyone say, "Look at the beautiful electric wires running up and down the roads," but regardless, we humans went and planted a utility pole in the ground every 200 feet or so from northern Maine to southern California, and everywhere in between. Isn't it a bit ludicrous to want to go no further.

If people really care about the Earth's environment, they would better spend their time and efforts on a reduction in car, truck and tractor-trailer traffic in our country. They would return to a more environment-friendly railway system, something we had, and abandoned for the interstate highway system we're presently going broke trying to maintain.

As for power lines and cell towers, live with it. Utility tops aesthetics every time.